WO2001061664A1

WO2001061664A1 - Automatic checkout installation for points of sale using trolleys

Info

Publication number: WO2001061664A1
Application number: PCT/IB2000/000160
Authority: WO
Inventors: Louis Bottigliengo
Original assignee: Louis Bottigliengo
Priority date: 2000-02-16
Filing date: 2000-02-16
Publication date: 2001-08-23
Also published as: AU2314700A

Abstract

An automatic checkout installation (1) for points of sale of articles (2i) transported on trolleys (3) is described. Each trolley (3) is positioned and fixed by locking means (8) in an obligatory passage (4) placed to correspond to the installation (1) and a reading device (5) detects, from the barcodes, the price of all the articles (2i), transmitting the total to a register. A device (7) verifies and checks payment for them and, when this has taken place, an inspection and control unit (11) connected to the said device (7) deactivates the said locking means (8) and controls the opening and closing of two doors (9, 10) positioned upstream and downstream from the zone where trolley (3) stands, to permit it to leave and to allow the next trolley to enter the said zone.

Description

Automatic checkout installation for points of sale using trolleys

The present invention relates to the field of checkout equipment that is installed at the exit of points of sale, for example in supermarkets, in which the articles selected by the customer are carried on a trolley by the latter to the checkout for payment.

At present, existing equipment comprises an obligatory passage, situated in front of the checkout, through which each trolley is obliged to pass if the customer guiding it wishes to reach the exit with it.

A conveyor belt, which ends at the checkout, transports the articles that the customer has taken out of the trolley and placed upon it, to an operator who then lifts them up one by one, checks their price by reading the barcode, and puts them back in the trolley that the customer had emptied.

If at this point the customer pays the total amount in cash, by cheque, credit card or equivalent means, the checkout operator allows him to leave with the purchased articles. Downstream from the checkout, and still inside the obligatory passage mentioned above, generally a detector is installed which sounds an alarm when an article whose barcode has not been obliterated, which the customer - either deliberately or inadvertently - had not shown to the operator, passes in front of it.

The type of equipment described thus far has two drawbacks: firstly, in each checkout, i.e. in each obligatory passage, an operator must be permanently stationed, which involves a considerable economic cost. Secondly, the operation of emptying the trolley by the customer and its subsequent refilling effected by the operator takes a very long time, especially when a trolley contains a very large number of articles. To overcome these two drawbacks, the present inventor has devised a completely automatic installation, which makes it possible to reduce the total time that a trolley stands at the checkout and at the same time reduce the number of operators required at a point of sale with several checkouts arranged side by side.

The object of the present invention thus comprises an automatic checkout installation as described in the preamble of the appended claim 1, characterized as disclosed in the characterizing part of the said claim.

A preferred embodiment of the installation of the invention will now be described, though this is not to be understood as binding or as restrictive relative to other possible embodiments based on the teachings of the aforementioned claim 1. In the course of the said description, reference will also be made to the accompanying drawing, which shows a schematic perspective view of the said example of embodiment of the installation according to the invention.

In the drawing it can be seen that, corresponding to installation 1 of the invention, an obligatory passage 4, which permits passage of a single trolley 3, is delimited upstream and downstream by two doors 9, 10.

Inside trolley 3 there are several superposed layers of parallel boxes 13i which hold the articles 2i selected by the customer, who accompanies trolley 3. It can be seen that the zone of the obligatory passage 4 delimited by the said doors 9, 10 must have a total area which, as shown, permits either one or several customers or persons accompanying trolley 3 to stand. Laterally, along obligatory passage 4, a reading device 5 is arranged, which is provided with one or preferably several reading heads 51 which can move in two perpendicular directions (arrows A, B) and are able to detect the prices from the barcodes on the articles 2i, obliterate them, then send them to a register 6, also positioned near obligatory passage 4.

Also along the said obligatory passage 4, a device 7 is arranged, of a known type, capable of verifying and confirming payment made by the customer either in cash or with credit cards, cheques or equivalent means.

When trolley 3 is located at a predetermined position inside obligatory passage 4, it is fixed and held in that position by locking means that preferably act on its wheels and, as shown, can be tabs or struts 8 which can be made to project reversibly from the floor.

To ensure accurate positioning of trolley 3, the inventor envisages the provision of grooves 12 on the floor itself, which act as a "track" for the wheels of trolley 3.

An inspection and control unit 11, operated for example electronically with a processor, acts as the "brain" and performs by itself, without the need for any operator, all the operations required for execution of all the services of the checkout.

Thus, by means of position sensors and other devices of a known type, it performs the following operations in succession:

- closes door 10 downstream from the obligatory passage 4 as soon as a trolley 3 has performed all the checkout operations, permitting it to leave (arrow D);

- closes the said door 10 again after the said trolley has passed through, and opens the other door 9 arranged upstream from the obligatory passage 4, permitting entry (arrow C) of the next trolley 3 and persons accompanying it;

- actuates the previously described locking means 8 when this last-mentioned trolley 3, with its wheels running along the aforementioned grooves 12, has reached a predetermined position, and re-closes the said door arranged upstream 9;

- actuates and moves the said mobile reading heads 51 of barcode reading device 5, in such a way that they run along the top and/or bottom horizontal surfaces of boxes 13i arranged in superposed layers inside trolley 3, detecting the barcodes of all the articles 2i and sending them to the register 6. (The reading heads act as already explained, running in spaces of suitable thickness S left free on the two horizontal surfaces of each box 13i and reading, also simultaneously, on both horizontal surfaces between which they are comprised);

- deactivates the locking means 8 and opens door 10 arranged downstream if and only if the aforementioned device 7 has verified and checked that the user, i.e. the customer, has effected a payment corresponding to the total price of all the articles 2i calculated by the register 6. With an installation as described it is therefore possible to obtain the result that it is not necessary to have an operator for each checkout (it is sufficient to have one operator for every 6-8 checkouts to remedy any abnormal situations due to malfunctioning of any component), and the checkout operations can be performed more quickly, as it is not necessary to empty and then refill the trolley with the articles.

Installations according to the invention can be constructed in various ways and with parts arranged differently from the foregoing description.

The inventor also envisages the possibility of fitting, on each trolley 3, a small electrically- operated refrigeration unit for a limited number of boxes, for better storage of deep-frozen articles. The electric power can be supplied by batteries, by photovoltaic cells or better still by a mixed system of batteries and photovoltaic cells.

Claims

1. Checkout installation (1) for points of sale of articles (2i) that are transported on trolleys (3) as far as a point where the said installation (1) is installed, comprising an obligatory passage (4) that permits passage of a single trolley (3), characterized in that it further comprises: a) a reading device (5) capable of detecting the price of all the articles contained in a trolley

(3) from their respective barcodes and transmit it to a register (6) situated to correspond to the said obligatory passage (4); b) a device (7) capable of verifying and confirming payment made by the user transporting the said trolley (3); c) locking means (8) capable of holding a trolley (3) in a predetermined position inside the said obligatory passage (4); d) two doors (9, 10) placed respectively upstream and downstream from the obligatory passage (4) where a trolley (3) is held still by the said locking means ( 8 ) ; e) an inspection and control unit (11) connected to the said device (7) which verifies and confirms payment by the user transporting the said trolley (3); the said inspection and control unit (11) being able to perform the following functions in succession: - closing of the said door (10) arranged downstream from the zone where the trolley stands after the latter has left it;

- opening of the said door (9) arranged upstream from the zone where a trolley stands and its closing again after the next trolley (3) has come into the said zone;

- actuation of the said locking means (8) when the trolley is at the predetermined position in the said zone; - actuation and movement of the said reading device (5);

- deactivation of the said locking means (8) and opening of the said door (10) arranged downstream if and only if device (7) has verified and checked that the user of trolley (3) has effected a payment that covers the total price of all the articles (2i) contained in trolley (3) .

2. Checkout installation according to claim 1, in which the said locking means are elements (8) fixed on the floor which rise from the floor itself when they are kept activated.

3. Checkout installation according to one of the preceding claims, in which each trolley (3) is provided with several superposed layers of parallel horizontal boxes (13i), and on both of the horizontal surfaces of the said superposed layers of parallel boxes (13i) there is a free space of a predetermined thickness (S) that can permit passage of a reading head (51) of the said reading device (5) which detects and obliterates the barcodes of all the articles contained in each box (13i) .

4. Checkout installation according to claim 3, in which one or more reading heads (51) are installed, capable of reading barcodes, applied on products, facing either up or down in box (13i) that contains them, these reading heads (51) also being able to move in two directions (A, B) perpendicular to each other so that the area of a box (13i) is completely covered.

5. Checkout installation according to one of the claims 3 or 4, in which one or more boxes (13i) are provided with an electrically-operated refrigeration unit.

6. Checkout installation according to claim 5, in which the refrigeration unit of one or more boxes

(13i) is operated by electric power produced by photovoltaic cells mounted on the trolley (3) in which the said boxes are installed.